


will you sway with me (go astray with me)

by heartunsettledsoul



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Mild Smut, aka I saw that yellow dress and had some thoughts, peak betty cooper summer vibes, s4 predications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 23:22:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20938472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartunsettledsoul/pseuds/heartunsettledsoul
Summary: Pre-season practices were one of Betty’s deciding factors in rejoining—it gave her something to fill the time with Jughead in classes, and she sorely missed the sense of belonging that came with being on a team. Jughead’s eyes had lit up at the prospect of her short cheer skirt and the evening that he skived off homework to show her just how much he missed the uniform had resulted in a botched pop quiz in physics.Worth it, he texted her.After that, she resolved to keep him solely in school mode during the week.or, it's the last party of the summer.





	will you sway with me (go astray with me)

**Author's Note:**

> sullypants: L o o k at these peak Betty Cooper summer vibes. There’s so much to love here: hair down, green skirt or is it a y e l l o w polo dress with a touch of cleavage and a popped collar? Elizabeth. Living ur life out here, bless. 
> 
> me: 100% a yellow polo dress and the buttons are undone with a slight collar pop because she and Jughead were making out and he got handsy and you cannot convince me otherwise these SUMMER VIBES ELIZABETH COOPER WHAT A LADY

But my hips have missed your hips  
So, let's get to know the kicks  
Will you sway with me?  
Go astray with me?  
"Sober," Lorde

* * *

It doesn’t feel right to be preparing for a new year at Riverdale High without Jughead, especially not their senior year. Betty wants the extra free periods spent in the Blue & Gold office to write articles and strategize college applications; more lazy morning coffees in the student lounge with her legs in his lap and his arm around her shoulder; she wanted the last two weeks of summer to be filled with Pop’s shakes and mid-afternoon sex, not with Jughead pouring over massive textbooks and a reading list that makes her chest ache with jealousy. 

Betty tries to tell herself she’s not jealous of Jughead’s opportunity at this new school—an _ incredible _opportunity borne out of one of the dozens of college scholarship essay contests she had convinced him to apply for—but more jealous of the time this school will get with him that she will not. They’ve already done the being-at-separate-schools thing, and Betty doesn’t want to do it again. 

Reluctantly, she does. She’s put on a smiley, Cooper-esque demeanor to convince Juggie it was the right decision and that he’d be an idiot to turn down the free admission to one of the state’s most prestigious prep schools. 

(It _ is _ and he _ would be, _and she knows this, no matter how selfish she is feeling after the traumatic events of the past few months. But the doubt in his eyes upon reading the letter offering his spot at Stonewall had Betty burying that selfish instinct on the spot. 

“You have to,” she told him. And again before he called the number listed to accept. And over and over and over again later that evening when he’d pinned her against their bedroom door and bit softly into her neck. “It’s the right choice, I love you,” she’d said instead of _ please don’t leave me again _ when he bent her over the bathroom counter and she stared into his worried-intense-loving-passionate gaze in the mirror as he fucked into her. 

“We’ll be okay,” he whispered after making her fall apart on the counter, in the shower where the water drowns out their loud moans, and again in their bed with his head between her thighs before their skin has even finished drying.) 

He, mercifully, had turned down the part of the offer that included housing. It’s not a short commute by any means, and he has to leave Elm Street before the sun is up and Betty won’t hear the rumble of his bike coming back up the drive until close to dinner time, but everybody had agreed it would be best for Jughead to continue living at home. 

And so because Stonewall started earlier than Riverdale, Betty spends her final days of summer vacation helping Jughead organize a meticulous planner to stay on top of all his responsibilities. Complete with little blue pom-pom doodles on the days that the Bulldogs played at home; to support Archie in his new, unsteady world, and to see Betty in her newly-reclaimed Vixens uniform. 

Pre-season practices were one of Betty’s deciding factors in rejoining—it gave her something to fill the time with Jughead in classes, and she sorely missed the sense of belonging that came with being on a team. Jughead’s eyes had lit up at the prospect of her short cheer skirt and the evening that he skived off homework to show her just how much he missed the uniform had resulted in a botched pop quiz in physics. 

_ Worth it, _he texted her.

After that, she resolved to keep him solely in school mode during the week. 

But that didn’t mean that today, on the last Friday of summer, Betty isn’t going to text him a photo of the dress she’s wearing to Reggie’s end of summer bash. It’s a bright, summery yellow with a deep-v of buttons and and short skirt and Betty pairs it with the pale pink lacy bra she knows he loves. He won’t see her until they’re at the party and she knows it can’t be helped, but the tiniest bit of her selfishness is coming undone. She wants to spend time with her boyfriend, dammit. 

Veronica insists they get ready together at the Pembrooke and she obliges, but not before donning the entire outfit and sending Jughead an uncharacteristic selfie. Her hair is in a messy bun and she doesn’t have makeup on, though she knows well enough that Jughead isn’t one to pay particular attention to the color of her eyeshadow. Especially not if the photo features all the buttons undone and the lace of her bra while she gnaws on her lip. 

She’s walking across town, grateful for switching back into shorts and a sleeveless top with the humidity sweltering, when her phone rings. 

“That wasn’t fair,” groans Jughead. “I thought you _ wanted _me to focus on my homework.” 

“I do,” Betty chirps. “Just know that free alcohol and all your favorite people will await you once you’re done!” 

“You’re sure I can’t convince my _ only _favorite person to ditch this dumb party and take advantage of the empty house instead?” 

Oh, he absolutely can and easily could convince Betty to do so. It’s more tempting than she’s willing to admit during this game of cat and mouse, though, so she merely reinforces their plan. “You know we promised everyone we’d go. And V is getting all nostalgic about being this being the two year anniversary of her moving to town too. We can’t ditch altogether.” 

She hears him mumbling on the other line, certain that he’s using some very choice words against their respective best friends. “Fine,” he relents. “But _ you _just know that I was willing to let you check playing student and professor off your sex list if you agreed to stay home, so it’s your loss.” 

He hangs up before Betty can open her mouth to change her mind. 

Both she and Veronica rush through getting dressed and done up, neither of them willing to admit that they just want to hurry up and be a little drunk; the whole town is settled under a blanket of tense unease, and Betty doesn’t feel truly relaxed until her best friend passes her a half shot of vodka in the middle of doing her eyeliner. 

“I think we both need this.” Veronica lifts her own shot glass, filled to the brim, in a silent cheers and turns the volume way up on her stereo when they’ve both had the alcohol burn down their throats. “Much better,” Veronica asserts before resuming her position in the vanity chair next to Betty and picking up a tube of lipstick. 

Betty wants to start any of the dozens of conversations swirling in her head—_ how’s Archie doing really, how are _ you _ , do you miss your dad because I kind of miss mine and god do I miss Mr. Andrews, I hate that Jughead is at a different school again, I don’t even think I want to go back to school on Monday _—but each is its own ugly can of worms that it won’t feel right to open, not right now. 

Her best friend turns toward her, motioning that Betty gives her the mascara wand to finish for her. “B, I can hear you thinking from all the way over here. Just spit it out.” 

Betty sifts through her thoughts and picks the least detonative one. “It sucks that Jug won’t be with us for senior year, that’s all.” 

Veronica seems mildly relieved that this is all Betty has brought up and Betty can’t blame her. “I know, it’s a major blow to all our epic plans.” Her eyes are soft when she recaps the mascara and and smiles at her. “He’s your family and I’m sure not having him around all the time is miserable.” 

Before she can stop herself, tears prick at her eyes and Betty tilts her chin up to blink them away. When they’ve cleared, Betty tugs Veronica into a fierce hug. “You’re my family, too, V.” 

Veronica looks equally choked up when they separate and fans herself. “Hoo boy, we needed waterproof if we were going to get weepy. So let’s just get out of here and have some fun.” 

And despite what the evening is—a huge party at Veronica’s ex’s house that both of their boyfriends are showing up late to—they do have fun. Reggie is already off his ass drunk so they’re able to slip past him without any awkward conversation until they settle in a corner near the keg with Toni and Sweet Pea. 

“Cheers,” Toni says and hands them the bottle of vodka she’s cradling. “The beer is shit and I don’t trust Mantle as far as I can throw him, so I’d avoid the punch.” Betty finds them all an unopened two liter of soda to pass around with the liquor and they’re settling into a comfortable discussion of which Bulldog will fall into the pool first when she catches sight of a familiar gray beanie. 

She sighs happily when Jughead slips in beside her. “Hi Juggie,” she says before pecking him quickly on the lips. 

Jughead nods his hello to the rest of the group, “I’ll just be borrowing my girlfriend for a moment.” To Betty, he murmurs low in her ear, “Your picture did not do the length of this dress any justice, baby.” 

She thinks she hears wolf whistles as Jughead pulls her through the crowd, but Betty is far too distracted by the fiery look in his eyes and the impatient way his fingers flex around her waist. “Jug, where are we going? We have to at least stay until Archie comes by.” 

“Relax,” Jughead tells her. “Just finding some space for a proper hello.” 

And space they find, down a short hallway behind the laundry room and to a corner that Jughead all but throws her into before cradling her jaw in his hand and swooping in to kiss her. Idly, she hopes that she doesn’t taste like shitty vodka and the Doritos she’d been snacking on but even if she does, Jughead doesn’t seem to mind. 

His lips are insistent against hers, allowing barely any space for quick gasps of air before he’s back on her and swallowing all her worries. Betty clutches loosely at his shirt collar and responds in kind, kissing him back with twice as much gusto until Jughead drags his mouth down her neck to lick at her collarbones. She runs her hands up and down his shoulders as he tugs at the collar of her dress to make way for his tongue, sucking what is sure to be a nasty hickey into the hollow of her clavicle. Each press of his palm lights a fire under her skin. 

She throws caution to the wind when he pinches her nipple through the fabric, hitching her leg over his hip and pressing as close to him as the position will allow. The groan he emits vibrates against her skin and shoots more pleasure up her spine. The hand not firmly on her breast creeps to the bunched hem of her dress, burning its way across her thigh and closer to the edge of her underwear, and she bucks her hips impatiently. 

Betty has half a mind to drop to her knees and undo Jughead’s belt, see how he likes it when she sucks her own hickey into his hipbone before taking him into her mouth, and she’s just bending at the knees when a loud shout erupts from somewhere in the house and breaks the spell. She stays upright, but palms the front of his jeans as his kisses slow until they’re light presses of his lips on her jaw. Betty whines, really and truly whines, when he pulls her hand away and places it safely on his hip. His own hands are precariously close to her breasts, but their touch is not as firm as they had been before. 

“Stupid fucking party,” Jughead mutters into her cheek. They meet at the lips again, gentle now, and Betty feels light as air as he holds her close. 

She sighs and knocks her head back against the wall. “Yeah, whose idea was this anyway?” 

“That would be you, Betts.” 

“How very silly of me.” 

One of his thumbs is rubbing soft circles where it sits on her ribcage and Betty wants nothing more to shove it under her dress until the circles are on her clit and she’s screaming for reasons other than frustration. Seeming to realize the edge she’s teetering on, Jughead’s ministrations stop altogether, which is not at all what she wanted. 

“You look beautiful tonight, Betty. Beautiful and unfairly hot.” 

No, Betty thinks. Unfair is that her boyfriend isn’t fucking her against this wall right now because she’d insisted on going to _ stupid fucking party _ instead of having time alone together. 

“This was a stupid idea,” Betty sighs with a shake of her head. “We could have finally spent time just the two of us and I wanted to come to this chaos instead and now we probably won’t be able to be totally alone for _ weeks _ because now _ I _ start school and FP is around all the time and your school is so _ far _and—” 

“Whoa, hey, hey, slow down.” Jughead looks at her, raising his eyebrows and placing both hands on her shoulders. “This wasn’t a stupid idea. We deserve to be drunk asshole teenagers as much as the rest of these guys do, if we want. I would have said no if I really didn’t want to come.” 

For the second time this evening, Betty finds herself tearing up but she’s unable to stop the tears from falling this time. 

“Shh, c’mere, it’s okay.” The full strength of Jughead’s hug grounds her, the smell of his fabric softener overwhelming her senses until the party is drowned out. 

“I just miss you, is all.” Betty mumbles it into his shirt, but knows he hears her from the sigh he heaves. 

“I miss you too.” 

“And now I’m mad I didn’t take you up on it when you played the professor and student card.” It’s half joke, half truth. If Betty had any sense in her, she might be in her fanciest lingerie and heels while Jughead called her Doctor Jones. 

Missed opportunity. 

Jughead smirks at her, but his eyes are soft and he follows up by stamping a kiss on her forehead. “I love you, Betts. We know how to deal with the separate schools thing much better now. We know how to deal with all of this insanity better now,” he scoffs. 

He’s right, Betty knows, but it doesn’t make their reality hurt any less. Always the observant boyfriend, he sees that she is still struggling to smile and he tugs her to him again to kiss away her pout. It’s a poor cover for his end goal of making her giggle _ and _trying to turn her on more, which he does by hooking a finger into the buttons of her collar and yanking a few more undone. 

“There,” he says. “You look appropriately debauched now. I can’t have Veronica or Cheryl questioning our heathen status.” 

When she glances down, Betty sees that all her buttons are open and a peek of her bra is showing, framed by the deep flush across her breastbone. Normally she might chastise him and at least do up _ one _button, but the day’s frustrations, vodka, and her boyfriend’s very talented tongue have convinced her otherwise. 

Betty mirrors the action on his own shirt with a sly smile, “Come on mister prep school, let’s show our faces long enough to keep people happy and then go home to tear each other’s clothes off.” 

Capturing her lips in one more kiss, Jughead does a rather thorough job of changing Betty’s mind on how long ‘long enough’ needs to be. She stumbles backward a little when he finally lets her go, a grin even wider than before plastered across his face, and she is sure she looks well beyond debauched now. “Yes, ma’am, _ professor, _” he says with a small salute. “Two more red cups of cheap beer coming right up.” 

He pulls her along with him though, and there’s a whine forming at the back of her throat when he presses his palm into her lower back to guide her through the mass of bodies. They rejoin Veronica at the keg, Archie now at her side, and Betty feels her face burn at Veronica’s arched eyebrow. 

“Well at least you both still have clothes on.” 

Jughead mutters, low in her ear, “Not for long,” and Betty laughs. She relaxes into his side as they sip on their drinks and joke with their friends. With his arm securely around her shoulder, Betty can’t help but feel that if this is what the universe is giving them for now, she’ll gladly take it.

**Author's Note:**

> tis the canon fix-it season!


End file.
